Job 14:5

5 A person’s days are determined; you have decreed the number of his months and have set limits he cannot exceed.

Job 14:5 in Other Translations

King James Version (KJV)
5 Seeing his days are determined, the number of his months are with thee, thou hast appointed his bounds that he cannot pass;
English Standard Version (ESV)
5 Since his days are determined, and the number of his months is with you, and you have appointed his limits that he cannot pass,
New Living Translation (NLT)
5 You have decided the length of our lives. You know how many months we will live, and we are not given a minute longer.
The Message Bible (MSG)
5 Mortals have a limited life span. You've already decided how long we'll live - you set the boundary and no one can cross it.
American Standard Version (ASV)
5 Seeing his days are determined, The number of his months is with thee, And thou hast appointed his bounds that he cannot pass;
GOD'S WORD Translation (GW)
5 If the number of his days and the number of his months are determined by you, and you set his limit, then he cannot go past it.
Holman Christian Standard Bible (CSB)
5 Since man's days are determined and the number of his months depends on You, and [since] You have set limits he cannot pass,
New International Reader's Version (NIRV)
5 You decide how long anyone will live. You have established the number of his months. You have set a limit to the number of his days.

Job 14:5 Meaning and Commentary

Job 14:5

Seeing his days [are] determined
Or "cut out" F9, exactly and precisely, how many he shall live, and what shall befall him every day of his life; whose life, because of the shortness of it, is rather measured by days than vents:

the number of his months [are] with thee;
before him, in his sight, in his account, and fixed and settled by him:

thou hast appointed his bounds that he cannot pass;
the boundaries of his life the period of his days, beyond which he cannot go; the term of man's life is so peremptorily fixed by God, that he cannot die sooner, nor live longer, than he has determined he should; as the time of a man's birth, so the time of his death is according to the purpose of God; and all intervening moments and articles of time, and all things that befall a man throughout the whole course of his life, all fall under the appointment of God, and are according to his determinate will; and when God requires of man his soul, no one has power over his spirit to retain it one moment; yet this hinders not the use of means for the preservation and comfort of life, since these are settled as well as the end, and are under the divine direction: the word for bounds signifies sometimes "statutes" F11: though not to be understood of laws appointed by God, either of a moral or ceremonial nature; but here it signifies set, stated, appointed times F12 Seneca F13 says the same thing;

``there is a boundary fixed for every man, which always remains where it is set, nor can any move it forward by any means whatsoever.''


FOOTNOTES:

F9 (Myuwrx) "exacte praefiniti sunt", Tigurine version.
F11 (wqx) "statuta ejus", V. L. Mercerus, Schmidt.
F12 "Stata tempora", Beza.
F13 Consolat. ad Marciam, c. 20.

Job 14:5 In-Context

3 Do you fix your eye on them? Will you bring them before you for judgment?
4 Who can bring what is pure from the impure? No one!
5 A person’s days are determined; you have decreed the number of his months and have set limits he cannot exceed.
6 So look away from him and let him alone, till he has put in his time like a hired laborer.
7 “At least there is hope for a tree: If it is cut down, it will sprout again, and its new shoots will not fail.

Cross References 3

  • 1. Job 24:1; Psalms 31:15; Psalms 139:16
  • 2. Job 21:21; Psalms 39:4; Psalms 90:12
  • 3. Acts 17:26
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